Although at times it has seemed, over the past two weeks, that the work of the legislature has not moved very quickly, there has been a flurry of activity outside of the floor debate every morning. Every working day at 1:30 PM, there are committee hearings that run for several hours – sometimes very late into the night. By the time you read this, all but two of my bills will have been heard in committee. On Tuesday the 31st, we had a very busy day, with three different bills being heard in three different committees! I was pleased to see that few of my bills received much opposition, and even then, testifiers described themselves as being in opposition only mildly. My staff and I worked hard for the last few months to ensure that, as we moved forward with proposed legislation, we contacted groups representing Nebraskans who might have an interest in them, and started the process of working through objections and concerns.

I believe that LB 256, to adopt the Vacant Property Registration Act, will give our small communities facing workforce housing shortages an important additional tool in their toolbelts to address that critical issue. LB 418 is a standard annual bill to keep Nebraska in compliance with federal highway regulations and ensure that we are still eligible for federal funds. A number of public power entities came to me with concerns regarding physical security and cybersecurity information critical to protecting our infrastructure, which led to the introduction of LB 494, which would exempt from public records requests some information with the potential to cause harm if used by bad actors. My office has been working with energy providers and press groups to ensure that information which the public deserves to know about their public entities is not hidden, while still keeping Nebraskans safe. LB 457 would place voluntary early termination agreements between teachers and school boards back within levy limits. Finally, LB 456 would protect Nebraskans with disabilities from being discriminated against in custody, child protection, and adoption decisions: people with disabilities can be good parents and bad parents as often as the rest of us, and it is important to ensure that disability alone is not used as a reason to prevent children from knowing all of the benefits of growing up in a loving family.

My last two bills, LB 312 and 313, which will provide much-needed property tax reform to Nebraskans across the state, are scheduled for hearings on the morning of March 1st.
As always, you can reach my office at (402) 471-2631. I look forward to hearing from you!